Something To Live Up To
by Philisnotonfirebecause
Summary: Captain America's daughter keeps getting herself into bad situations, just like her dad. The older she gets, the worse the trouble becomes, but she can normally handle it. This time though it might be too much. The mess she's just caused now might just end in the destruction of Earth, unless she can convince her dad and the rest of the Avengers to help her.
1. Chapter 1 - How Did We Get Here?

My name's Claire. I'm 17 years old, 5"2, I have wavy brunette hair that goes to the middle of my back and blue eyes, just like my dad's.

Oh yeah, my dad is Captain America.

I don't normally tell people that; Rogers is a fairly common surname so no one has ever guessed it either. I can't bear to think about what would happen if I told someone. They'd want to meet him and get autographs and once you've met Captain America you aren't exactly going to keep it a secret are you? Then everyone else would want to meet him and get autographs and all that crap.

But worst of all; there would be people teasing me. Before my dad became Captain America he was just some weedy little dork determined to join the war. He was always getting himself into fights with people much bigger and much stronger than himself because he was always standing up against bullies. He got beat to a pulp every time if Bucky didn't come to his rescue. But anyway, I must have gotten some of his old genes, I'm a weedy little 84lbs girl who can't run or throw a punch for shit. Just like my dad was.

I have quite a lot to live up to.

I hardly ever see my dad anyway; he's always away on some mission for SHIELD. Not normally anything big and life threatening like when Loki brought the Chitauri to New York or anything. Just simple little side missions like freeing a load of hostages or protecting some important official. Sometimes he'll bring me back little gifts though so it isn't all bad. When he'd away I normally stay at home alone in our little 2 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn (where my dad grew up) or I go and stay over with a friend if he's only going to be gone 3 days max.

I don't know who my mum is. Whenever I ask my dad he always says "It's complicated" or "I'll tell you one day". I doubt he will to be honest. But I'm fine with that, I like being able to watch whatever I want, listen to whatever I want and basically do whatever I want when he's away. There's no one to tell me not to.

It does get lonely at time though. Dad's the only family I've got so when he's not here I've only got my mates. And he can't exactly book time off like other parents, so he often misses my birthday and Christmases but when he does he'll always give me a ring on the day and promise to make it up to me when he gets back, which he does. Sometimes he'll take me out shopping, get me that new game I've been begging him for for months or get me loads of new clothes from all the designer brands so I can show off to all them bitches at college or we'll go to the cinema and have a daddy-daughter day but my favourite is when we sit in the living room and cuddle up with loads of blankets and watch all our favourite films all day. We watch some girly rom-coms for me, some of his old movies from back in the '40s and then some modern action ones as well. We have all the lights off and the curtains close so we don't see daylight all day. I love it.

Anyway, my dad's coming home tomorrow; he's been away for 3 weeks now I think. He had to go to some mission in Zambia to protect one of SHIELD's greatest scientists while he was doing some research there. Poor guy, there must be some pretty bad people after his work if the army can't protect him enough that they need to have my dad there.

When he gets back we're planning to go out for a meal at Pizza Express, it's my favourite, really posh pizza cooked perfectly and those dough balls with garlic butter dip... It's to die for. Then he's going to take me to see Independence Day at the cinema, I nearly watched it to many times while he's been away but I didn't want to spoil it for when he gets back, and then we're going to come home and have a few drinks together (it has to be at home, I'm not old enough to drink in a pub yet). I can't wait until tomorrow; it's all I've been able to think about for days.

I've just got to get some homework done before he gets home tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it while we're out tomorrow. I've got some maths homework (unlike most people ever, I'm quite good at maths and I actually quite like the subject), computer science homework and some physics homework (yes, I'm quite a bit of a nerd). Dad can normally help me with math and sometimes physics but he isn't particularly good with computer science, you can't blame him though, he was born in 1918, he wasn't exactly brought up with computers. I should be able to get through it all before I go to sleep tonight then I can enjoy tomorrow with my dad back home.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Beginning

"Dad! You're back! How did the mission go?" I threw myself at him the minute he opened the door, he hadn't even entered the flat.

"Easy Tiger, let me in and I'll tell you all about it, alright?" Dad laughed as I moved out of his way. He threw his bag and his shield down onto the armchair and gave me a hug. "How've you been? Excited to go out tonight?"

"Of course! But first I wanna hear all about the mission! How many bad guys did you get? Who saved the day? Any awesome stuff happen? Which avenger got the most bad guys? Tell me everything!"

"You're never going to get tired of all these stories are you? I mean, they are all basically the same - bad guy does something bad, avengers called in, avengers kick ass, no more bad guy."

"Yeah but it's always some crazy plan the bad guys have and it never works out for them! Like Loki and the Chitauri and Ultron and his meteorite made out of Sokovia and modern day Hydra trying to kill thousands of people all at once! Seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up if you wanted to! They're all mad!"

Dad laughed again. I guess he was used to me always taking such a huge interest in everything he does, I've loved all his stories since I was tiny. But none of the stories ever included mum.

"How about this: I'll tell you all about it while we're at Pizza Express tonight?" This seemed like a pretty good deal, I liked Dad's stories and I liked pizza, so I agreed.

"By the way, I got you a present!" Dad said as he left the room and went into the kitchen. I could hear him getting a drink as jogged into the kitchen to find out more about this 'present'.

"What is it?" I yelled through as I followed him into the kitchen. As I caught up to him he left the kitchen and walked back through into living room, slipping his hand into his bag as he passed and taking out a small wrapped box, no bigger than a mobile phone. He walked across the room as sat down on the sofa with the present and his drink. I sat next to him and he handed me the present.

I unwrapped the gift as quick as I could; throwing the ripped paper everywhere as I went. Once all the paper was on the floor, the sofa and my dad's lap, in my hands I held a small silver gadget. It looked very much like a mobile phone expect there wasn't any buttons anywhere. The only mark was on the back at the bottom which said "Stark Industries". Dad had clearly got this from Tony.

"W-What is it?" I asked as I turned the gadget over in the hands.

"It's this new music player that I asked Tony to make for you. Remember while I was away, you told me you'd broken your iPod? Well I asked Tony to make you one and, well, it's Tony, it didn't take him long. The battery can last for 3 weeks and that's when it's working at full capacity, and it can hold over 50,000 songs and 20,000 videos. It's pretty high tech. I can guarantee no one has anything like it. Do you like it?"

"I- I love it! My friends are going to be so jealous!"

"So what are you going to have then?" I asked dad as the waiter walked away after taking our drink order in Pizza Express. His eyes were still skimming the menu as he answered.

"I think I'm going to have the Hawaiian one, what about you, are you ready to order yet?"

"I think so, I'm going to have the margarita pizza."

"And you call me old fashioned" Dad said as he laughed yet again at me. He was always making fun of me but I didn't mind. I always did the same to him.

It was strange being out with Dad, it always was. Walking down the street or sitting in restaurants hearing people mumble "Is that Captain America?" and "Guys look! It's Captain America! Seriously, look!" and all that sort of stuff but tonight it felt kind of different. There were some people, a couple of men, on the other side of the restaurant that kept looking over at us. They weren't talking, just sitting there and looking at us. Dad couldn't see them, they were behind him but they were beginning to make me nervous. The sooner we got out of here the better.

The waiter came back and took our orders and within 20 minutes we were both tucking into our pizzas. Dad was telling me all about his mission - How he and the rest of the Avengers had been tasked to stop some people in Zambia experimenting on children (just like what had been done to Wanda and Pietro). Several of the children were very ill as the experiments hadn't gone very well. Not only did they have to stop the bad guys but they had to get all the children to a proper hospital to save them. But being the Avengers it was pretty easy for them. It took a lot to get them worried.

Dad explained in a lot of detail so we'd both finished eating by the time he'd done. I was a bit more comfortable now as those guys weren't paying us as much attention as before (although they still kept looking at us) and Dad's happy attitude is infectious. Soon after we paid and were on our way to the cinema to see Independence Day.

Once we got there Dad bought us both a large bucket of popcorn each despite me repeatedly telling him we wouldn't be able to eat anywhere near all of it and were sat in our seats waiting for the film to start. Every now and then I watched someone come in and take a seat, but not every often. I was too busy watching all the adverts for other films to realise what was happening around me.

The film started and everyone went quiet. The only sounds you could hear were people slurping fizzy pop and the crunch of popcorn as well as the movie of course. It was a good film, I won't go into the details I don't want to spoil it but before I knew it, it had finished.

We waited in our seats until the end of the credits; Dad didn't like to leave the cinema when it was busy because he didn't want anything to come between daddy daughter day so we sat. We didn't say anything. We tried not to draw attention to ourselves. But we soon found out that wasn't going to work.

We both quickly noticed that no-one else was leaving. Everyone stayed in their seats. Well if they were staying here then we were going. Dad got up before me and I quickly followed him. We made it to the bottom of the steps, the door just meters away. That was when everyone stood up all at the same time. It didn't take long for me to notice that everyone there was a fully grown man who seemed to be seated alone but were clearly together. Two men quickly moved and stood in front of the exit as we heard a deep voice say "Stop.". Instantly, we froze. Dad moved to stand in front of me. It was getting pretty scary pretty fast.

"Captain America, I've waited a while for this moment. And lucky me, I get the pleasure of killing your family just as you killed mine. You probably won't know about it though, as I'll be killing you as well." and with that the man began to walk down the stairs towards us.

It was him. He was I'm Pizza Express, the one that kept watching us. I knew something wasn't right. And now he wanted us both dead.

Before I had chance to react everyone surged towards us, there had to be at least 30 men here. I didn't have time to react, as Dad was drawn away from me into the fight two men grabbed my arms, one of them with his hand over my mouth too and dragged me away from the fight, closer to the screen in the cinema, away from Captain America.

Dad was amazing, he might not have had his shield or his snazzy costume but he was killing it. Punching one guy in the face as he kicked another in the gut. They both fell. The story was the same for another 15 guys as they dared challenge Captain America!

I quickly remembered my own situation though as I felt a knife slide across my skin and pointed at my shoulder. Dad saw me and began to run in my direction but more men jumped into his path. Then, just as he punched the first one square in the face, I felt it. The knife slid straight into my shoulder. The pain was extraordinary. I tried to scream but it was muffled against my captor's hand. That's when Dad got really mad. He quickly beat down all the men until it was just the two holding me and the one that had spoken left.

The one who had spoken stepped forward.

"You put up a good fight Captain America. Now we know what we are up against. Next time we meet it won't be this simple." No sooner had he spoken the ceiling collapsed as a man in a suit very much like Falcon's soared down, grabbed him and disappeared. Now it was just the two men holding me left. They'd been watching the fight just as I had, they knew when they were beat. They dropped me and tried to run for the door but Dad was much faster. They were a pile on the floor within seconds.

"Claire, are you okay?" Dad said as he ran over to me, his voice full of concern. I was sat on the floor, my right hand pressing against the wound on my left shoulder, blood leaking through my fingers.

"Can you stand? We need to get out of here." I mumbled something that sounded like a yes and tried to stand. The second I got up my head was swimming, I nearly fell but Dad caught me.

"It's okay, I'll help you. You just keep pressure on that wound" he put his arm around me as we left the cinema as quickly as possible. We got plenty of strange looks but I was too dizzy to care.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we turned in the opposite direction to home. The hospital was in the other direction too, where could we possibly be going?

"Stark Tower. I need to talk to the other Avengers."


	3. Chapter 3 - Meet The Gang

Within half an hour we were at Stark Tower. Dad helped me walk as we entered; I was beginning to struggle thanks to the blood loss from the wound in my shoulder.

"Good evening, Mr Rogers. What can I do for you?" A mysterious voice said. I'd heard stories about this from my dad; I figured it must be JARVIS. It seemed to make my dad jump and we stopped which would have been funny I wasn't slowly bleeding to death.

"JARVIS, can you find Tony for me? And someone to get Claire fixed up?"

"Of course, Sir. Mr Stark is currently in the quinjet hanger. I've have the medical staff meet you there as well." As soon as JARVIS had said 'quinjet hanger' we started walking again, hoping Dad knew where he was going.

He did. As soon as we entered the room two people I didn't know took me from my dad and sat me down while they began to work on my shoulder. Tony Stark walked over to my dad as the latter looked away from me. I'd never met Tony before but everyone knew who Tony Stark was. After all the drama the Avengers had been involved in over the past few years they had been on the news a lot and there was so much coverage on the internet about them. I knew who each and every one of them was despite only knowing my dad.

"What's up, Capsicle?" Tony greeted as he got closer. He didn't look in my direction at all. I'm pretty sure he didn't know I was there.

"Tony, we need to get in touch with the rest of the avengers." Dad said hurriedly, wiping Tony's smile straight off his face.

"Why? What's happened?" A slightly confused look began replacing the cocky smile he normally sports.

"Remember Chovnik?" The minute dad had said the name worry added to mix of confusion and cocky on Tony's face. I wanted to ask who Chovnik was but I was too weak after losing blood and slightly nervous; I'd heard a lot about Tony Stark.

"JARVIS, call Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Wanda, Pietro, Bucky, Vision, Sam, Rhodey and Thor here. If you can't get hold of Thor, no biggy." Tony spoke aloud in no particular direction without questioning dad at all. The name clearly meant something to him, even if it meant nothing to me. That was a lot of avengers he'd asked for, this must be serious. I didn't understand though, dad managed to get rid of all those guys by himself. Why did he need all the others?

I decided to stay quiet. I didn't want to get in the way.

"So what are we going to do?" Tony continued while dad glanced over at him, silently checking I was okay.

"Mr Stark, Mr Rogers, Natasha, Clint, Bucky, Vision, Sam and Rhodey are on their way as we speak. They should be here in around 30 minutes. I believe Bruce, Wanda, Pietro and Thor will be here eventually but are currently preoccupied. Is there anything else I can do for you, Sir?" JARVIS butted in before I could find out any more.

"Stevie, what's up?" Bucky questioned my dad the minute he walked through the door followed by Natasha and Clint. I'd never heard anyone call my dad 'Stevie' before; they always called him 'Steve' or 'Mr Rogers' or, if they were very posh, 'Steven'. It was kind of strange hearing him being called that.

"Remember Chovnik? Well, he had some of his men attack us while we were out." Dad replied, blushing a little bit and glancing at me out the corner of his eye, thinking I didn't notice. I think having Bucky call him that embarrassed him but I couldn't figure out why.

"Wait, whose 'we'?" Sam cut in, poking his head out from behind Bucky and Natasha. It was only then did I realise dad hadn't told any of them that I even existed. That hurt a little. He spoke about them to me all the time but never once mentioned he had a child at all.

"Erm.. Me and my erm daughter." Dad said as he blushed, lifting his hand to the back of his neck and looking at the floor. His other hand pointing in my direction.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us you had a daughter?!" Sam replied with a raised voice that wasn't quite shouting.

"Sam, chill out! No one screamed at Clint when we found out he had a wife, two kids and another one on the way! Why should it be any different for Cap?" Natasha cut in with a slightly raised voice, even though she had the same mildly annoyed express on her face that Sam did whenever she looked towards dad.

"Thank you, Nat." Dad said, looking slightly nervous. "This is Claire." At that he pointed in my direction again but seemed a little more sure of himself this time. I nodded at them and quietly said "Hey" as they all mumbled a "Hello" back, shortly followed by a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Well I don't know about you lot but I'm starving! Who's eating?" Tony suddenly said as he began walking towards the door. Natasha gave dad a warning look as everyone, including me and dad who'd already eaten, followed Tony down to the kitchen.

Everyone sat around a big table eating chips and burgers except me, dad and Bucky, who'd already eaten. While we were sat around the table Wanda, Pietro and Thor all turned up. Wanda was super friendly; she was the closest to my age and seemed to know what it was like to be a bit of an outsider. She explained to me about her and Pietro joined the avengers, after originally fighting against them with Ultron. It made me feel slightly better about being here. Surely if they could accept Wanda and Pietro after originally being on opposite sides then they could accept me right? All I'd done was be born, and that was hardly my fault. While everyone was eating I got a chance to properly look at them all without feeling too nervous.

Sam seemed like a nice guy, I think he was just annoyed at Dad for not telling him he had a kid, they seemed quite close. He was sat with dad and Bucky and, although he mainly spoke to those two, he did keep join in with the all the banter throughout the whole group.

At first Natasha seemed guarded but she was starting to relax more around everyone as time passed. I'd heard stories from my dad about how badass she was; I knew that getting on the wrong side of her was a very bad idea. She looked like she knew 1003 ways to kill you and her only dilemma would be deciding which one to use.

Pietro was sweet. He seemed absolutely smitten with Clint (whilst Clint was oblivious) and barely ever left his side. He seemed young, compared to all the other avengers around him but when you really looked at him you could see he was a man.

Bruce seemed quite… dorky. That was probably the best way to describe him. He spent a lot of time laughing with the others and trying to join in on the banter and failing, but everyone just laughed anyway. Bruce was spending most of his time around Tony but he often went and spoke to Natasha. If I didn't know any better I might have even thought they were flirting.

Clint seemed very cool; he was always in the middle of the banter, laughing away surrounded by Pietro, Tony, Rhodey, Bruce, Natasha and Thor. Him and Tony seemed to quite competitive; they were always challenging each other. One second they were seeing who could down there drink the quickest (Tony) and the next they were both trying to pick up Thor's hammer, convinced it was some trick and not Asgardian magic. Neither managed it, of course.

Thor seemed to find it every funny when everyone was trying to move his hammer. Of course, the only person able to move it other than him was Vision but luckily Vision never abused that power. He only picked it up when necessary, which Thor was very thankful of. Thor seemed to love the party scene, his loud laugh booming over everyone else as they all had fun and joked around. Everyone seemed to love him.

Vision was caring, but logical. He seemed to spend a lot of time around Wanda. He didn't join in on the banter so much, he spent a lot of time just outside the main group; still included but not as much social pressure on him, allowing him to just be his calculating self.

Rhodey seemed to be very good friends with Tony. I hadn't seen them apart yet. I couldn't really tell what he was like as all he was doing was laughing at all the crazy stuff Tony and Clint were doing and the jokes that Thor and Natasha was telling.

Only one person here made me feel slightly uncomfortable and that was James Buchanan Barnes. First he had called me dad 'Stevie' which nobody did. Why would anyone have such a cutesy name for Captain America of all people? And now he wouldn't leave his side; they were either huddled in the corner whispering about something that looked like an argument to me (probably about me) or they were stood with everyone else sharing a drink. But the thing that unnerved me the most was the fact that no matter what they did, they were always touching. Whether it was Bucky leaning on dad's shoulder but dad's hand on his leg as they sat and laughed at some private joke, they were always touching. It reminded me of something but I couldn't think what, then it dawn on me. It reminded me of how Pietro was acting around Clint, except Dad and Bucky were both reciprocating it. Was it possible there was something going on between them? I couldn't possibly imagine it, I mean; dad had to be straight to be able to have me right? Why make a child with another woman if you were gay?

And then there is me, sat alone in the corner. It seemed as though Dad had completely forgotten about my existence so he could spend time with Bucky and because I didn't actually know anyone else I was left alone, not sure how to fit in with the superhuman adults I was surrounded by. Occasionally Wanda would come over and ask if I was okay but would quickly go back to Vision after I told her I was fine. My shoulder wasn't hurting at all now, it was just a bit stiff. I would have thought after getting attacked and stabbed today my own father would show a bit more interest around me but every time he came near me he came with Bucky in tow and then Bucky got nervous and fidgety so that left me alone again.

After watching them continue to laugh and joke for over an hour I realised we wouldn't be talking about the attack tonight. No one wanted to ruin everyone's good mood so they just continued drinking and messing around. I would've left them and gone to bed, except I'd never been to stark tower before so I had no idea where I would sleep, or if I even could sleep here. I got up to ask my dad where I could sleep and he told me a few directions very quickly without taking his eyes of Bucky and I quickly left the room. No one even noticed I'd gone.

After finding the small room I had a quick look around. It didn't take every long; there wasn't much to look at. In one corner there was a small single bed, in the opposite corner there was a dresser and a desk next to it and a small window above the desk. There was a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, with no shade around it. It was clear this room was only ever used when they had someone like me over – basically never.

It had been a very long, and even though so much as happened that I need to think about, I couldn't help but feel my eyes begin to close the minute my head hit the pillow. I would have a chance to think about the attack, the stabbing and meeting all the avengers tomorrow when I woke up. Right now I just needed to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4 - What Do We Do Now?

I woke up in the morning to light shining straight through the old, worn-out curtains. It must have been early, the sun was still rising. I got dressed away and tried to see if I could find my way back to the kitchen to get something to eat and drink. I only took 3 wrong turns before I finally found myself stood in the middle of the shiny kitchen. On my way there I'd walked past a clock and discovered it was only 5:43am. I began to make myself some coffee when Pietro walked into the room, rubbing his eyes and making me jump when he said hello.

"Hiya" I mumbled back, partly because I was still nervous around all the avengers and partly because I was too tired to function properly. "Want some coffee?" I offered.

He nodded as he sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen. I turned around and grabbed us both a mug of coffee before sitting down opposite him and sliding his mug across the shiny surface. We both sat in silence for a while longer as we waited for the coffee to slowly wake us up.

"Why are you up so early?" Pietro suddenly asked, making me jump yet again. I didn't think we'd both waken up enough to have a conversation.

"I guess I couldn't sleep. A lot has happened in the past 24 hours." I don't know why I decided to open up so much to him; he just had this sort of vibe about him that made me want to him in everything.

"I know what you mean. I've had a few crazy days like that in the past." He gave me a small smile before taking another sip of his coffee and continuing. "Wanna talk about it?"

"You know, getting attacked, being stabbed, and finally meeting all the avengers that I've heard so much about. It's a lot to take in." Normally I would've said no, I don't know why I was telling him all this.

"I guess we can be a bit scary. I mean, we fight bad guys, I hope we're scary." He gave a little laugh but finally asking "Sorry to ask, but… Why don't we know you? Like I'd understand why Steve would want to keep you out of all this but we didn't even know you existed."

I sighed. I didn't really know how to answer that. The only person who knew why dad hadn't told them about me was dad. The whole time I was thinking about what to say Pietro was staring me, not taking his big childlike eyes off me for a single second.

"I… I don't know. I know all about you guys; dad tells me all about all your adventures the minute he gets home. I thought you all knew about me. I guess I was wrong." I said, looking down into my now empty coffee mug.

"Well, we know about you now; now we just have to get to know you." He replied cheerily, giving me a huge grin. I smiled back, a proper smile, the way I haven't smiled since before the attack yesterday. Thinking of yesterday, I decided it was my turn to ask the questions.

"Pietro… Is there anything going on between you and Clint?" I asked pretty quick after a few minutes silence. For a brief moment he looked quite shocked but then a sort of giddy look appeared on his face.

"N-No, why?" I could tell the second he started speaking that he wanted there to be something between them, he wanted it to be there so bad. I'd seen the same express on so many of my love sick friends at school before.

"You just looked really cute together last night; I thought maybe there was something there…" I decided not to tell him it was because he was so obvious the night before; I was only just becoming friends with the guy, I didn't want to screw that up already. He seemed to like what I'd said as he looked down into his coffee mug and grinned again. We were silent again for a few minutes before a new voice joined the conversation.

"Morning kid" Tony began, then he noticed me "and erm… Claire" Both me and Pietro mumbled a hello back while Tony got himself some coffee and a couple slices of toast.

"You alright? Sleep well? I didn't see you leave last night." Tony said with a mouth full of toast as he turned towards me. He looked slightly different from last night; his hair was in a bit of a mess and he wasn't covered in dirt from working on his suits. He looked a bit more friendly, a bit more human.

"Yeah… Yeah I slept fine. Dad told me where my room was." Even though he was being kind to me I was still nervous around him, after all, he is Ironman. He just nodded in reply; he seemed pretty sleepy too, just like me and Pietro had been about half an hour ago.

Throughout the next hour or so more and more of the avengers slowly wandered in to get themselves coffee or some breakfast. Nobody really spoke much; no one had the energy first thing in the morning. It was kind of funny seeing all the avengers fumbling around the tower, no really aware of what we going on. It made them look a lot more human.

I was in a pretty good mood for most of the morning. That was, until my dad finally appeared in the kitchen. And he wasn't alone. Of course he was attached to Bucky again. I know that they've been friends since they were kids way back in the 1930s but still, this level of clinginess was a little excessive. After grabbing two cups of coffee and handing one to Bucky, dad came and sat next to me, with Bucky on other side.

"Morning Pumpkin" he whispered to me, not wanting to embarrass me in front of all my new 'friends'. We had a quick conversation about how I slept and how my shoulder was before falling back into comfortable silence. A few others had now left the kitchen to go train or workout as the day began.

"Mr Rogers, Mr Stark would like to everyone in the common room please." JARVIS suddenly spoke throughout the room, making me and my dad jump as dad ran on the treadmill.

"Do you know if 'everyone' includes Claire, JARVIS?" Dad replied as he stopped the machine and stepped off, getting ready to head for the common room.

"I believe it does, Sir." JARVIS' voice spoke through the room again. I couldn't help me notice how polite JARVIS always was. Dad motioned for me to follow him and I walked out the gym, shorting followed by him. We made our way down to the common room and found everyone else already there, curled up on sofas across the room. The only person stood up was Tony.

We crossed the room and sat down on the end of a sofa which Bucky had clearly saved for dad. A small bit of anger flared in my chest as I watched the way they interacted with each other as we sat down and got comfy but was quickly replaced with nerves as to what this might be about.

"Well, I guess we actually need to talk about this so let's get it over and done with." Tony began, and then turned to face our direction. "Steve, do you mind telling everyone what happened yesterday?"

Dad told them all about how he'd come home from the mission and taken me out for a pizza and then to the cinema, and how we'd been attacked by a man named Chovnik and his men after the film had finished but Chovnik had gotten away before dad could get to him, whilst his men had stabbed me in the shoulder. When he'd finished his story everyone was just sat there in stunned silence for a minute, which I didn't understand. They were superheroes, surely it would take more than this to shock them after everything they'd seen.

"Erm, when we were in _pizza express_ , there was two men watching us whilst we ate. They were two of the erm people that attacked us in the cinema…" I began, my voice getting quieter the more I said. Dad's face snapped around to look at me, full of shock.

"You saw them before they attacked us? Why didn't you say anything?" His voice was slightly raised but I could tell he wasn't angry, more worried than anything else.

"Yeah, they were sat behind you so you couldn't see them. I thought they'd just recognised you or something; it didn't seem important at the time…" I said; my voice even quieter than it had been a minute ago. Dad just nodded and put his hand on top of mine, giving it a squeeze.

"What was it Chovnik said to you, just before he left?" Natasha cut in, a very serious expression on her face.

"He said he would be back, and that when he was he would have a lot more men. He said this time was only to see how strong I was on my own and how much I could handle, like some sort of twisted test." Dad replied, turning away from me. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, each one of them had an expression of serious thought on their faces. I just sat there and waited for someone to tell me something that might make sense.

"How can Chovnik have access to that many men?" Sam finally broke the silence, but the minute he finished talking the silence returned.

"Well, he took him and all of his men down only 2 months ago. Nobody can recruit enough men in that amount of time to be able to just waste 30 of them on a 'test'. So that means…" This time it was Tony who spoke but he was cut off by Clint.

"Someone else is supplying the men. He's working for someone else." There was silence yet again as everyone tuck in the information that Chovnik was now being controlled by someone else, someone that didn't know about.

"Who – Who actually is Chovnik?" I spoke into the silence. I'd heard all this new information about him but I still had no idea who he actually was. All I knew was that he attacked us yesterday and all the avengers seem to hate him. After a moment, someone finally spoke.

"Chovnik is a Russian man who spent years experimenting on humans, trying to create more enhanced which he could use to fight us. He wanted power and he would do anything to get it. Countless people died as a result of his testing. He'd killed well over two thousand people before we managed to locate him and take him now, but not after he'd managed to enhance himself. When we fought him he was much stronger than an average human and had somehow managed to gain the ability to control water, a bit like Wanda can control objects and other people minds by using her own. Chovnik can control water and make it bend to his will. We thought we were done with him." Thor explained, his eyes never leaving mine as he did so. Silence followed yet again; no one really knew what to do.

"Well how do we catch this guy?" Pietro said; his thick accent cutting through the room.

"All we can do for now is research who he's been in contact with until we find someone who seems suspicious. Then we start researching them too. I thinks that's all we can do for now while we wait for Chovnik and whoever is giving him his orders to make their move." Dad replied. Everyone in the room looked very unsure, the plan wasn't great but dad was right. They didn't have any other information about Chovnik at this point; all they could do was research who'd he'd spoken to.

There were different computers dotted about across Stark Tower and everyone seemed to head towards a different one. Tony went to the computer in his workshop, Bruce went to the computer in the lab, Pietro, Clint and Natasha all went to the briefing room to use the computer there and Wanda, Rhodey and Sam walked off in another direction I hadn't had chance to explore yet. I couldn't help but wonder where they were going. Vision stayed where he was as he was able to scour the internet without even going to a computer as he was an android. Dad, Bucky and Thor sat awkwardly for a moment. It took me a minute to realise that the three of them wouldn't be very good with computers, Dad and Bucky having grown up in the '30s and Thor being from Asgard and not really understand the way our technology works on 'Midgard' as he called it. I didn't really think I could be of much use either as, although I knew how to use the internet, I only knew how to use Facebook and Tumblr, not how to search for some Russian criminal who wanted us all dead.

All we could do now was wait for one of the other avengers to return with news of what Chovnik was up to. I decided to go for a run, but not outside, in the gym. I needed to clear my head and all this impending death stuff was putting a downer on my day.


	5. Chapter 5 - Plan Of Attack

**Steve's POV**

I fucked up. I really fucked up. Not telling the team about Claire has really hurt them. I was always the one saying we shouldn't keep things from each other, that we'd all work better together if we really knew who we were working with and then it turns out I'm hiding a child for this many years. That's a pretty big secret to keep hidden.

Only one person was still treating me like they'd always done: Bucky. Well he would wouldn't he? After all, he'd known about Claire all along, ever since…

Wait. No. I can't go into that right now. We've got stuff to be doing; we've got to find out everything we can about Chovnik. We don't have enough time for me to sit here wrapped up in my own thoughts.

I decided to go see how Tony was getting on; he's normally the one to find any information first, being Tony Stark and all.

It only took me a couple of minutes to walk down to Tony's workshop. When I got there JARVIS was showing him all the information he had on Chovnik and Tony was throwing it around the room, trying to decide which parts were important and which weren't.

"Found anything yet?" I asked as I walked into the room. He didn't even react, just continued to throw information around.

"Oh sorry, are we telling each other things now? I didn't realise" He snapped back at me without turning around. I could feel myself blushing and everything became much more awkward between the two of us. It wasn't like Tony to care about this kind of thing anyway; he didn't care what secrets we kept from each other normally. Tony had kept secrets from us before as well and that didn't seem to bother him much, like when he 'accidentally' created Ultron. Ultron himself had become a problem but to Tony, the fact that he had made him wasn't a problem, it was just the way Ultron acted afterwards that bugged him. He didn't act like this either when he found out that Clint had an entire family; he just kind of accepted it. So why did he have a problem with me keeping secrets when others had done the same?

"Look, Tony, I'm sorry I had to keep Claire from you, from everyone, but I didn't want her getting h-"Tony cut me just as I was about to explain why I'd done what I'd done. It seemed to be getting more and more pissed off as we spoke.

"You're the one always saying we need to honest with each other Steve! You're the one telling the entire team we shouldn't keep secrets; that we need to understand who we're fighting with! What was it you said to Fury that time? 'Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running round shooting guns!' You said that whilst knowing you were keeping a huge secret from the rest of the team, from the rest of the world!" He turned round as he began to yell at me. He started off my talking but got louder and louder as he spoke, until he ended up screaming at me. I was sure everyone else in the tower would be able to hear him.

"You've kept secrets from us before! Remember Ultron? And Clint had an entire family hidden but you didn't seem to care about that! What about Natasha? She keeps all kinds of secrets we can only imagine about her past! But you don't care about that do you?" I shot back. I wasn't just going to stand there and let him shout at me like that.

"They're master assassins Steve! They're going to have secrets! And Ultron, you know damn well I didn't design him to be evil, I didn't want him to want to wipe out the human race!" Tony was all up in my face now; his research forgotten.

"You still made Ultron though didn't you? You might not have made him evil but you would've known the risks of AI! You still took that chance!"

"Why are we arguing about Ultron? You're the one that fucked up this time! You're the one that kept this from the team and it's your fault that no one really wants to be around you right now! You did this to yourself Steve!" This time, Tony's voice got quieter as he spoke until he was talking normally again as he spoke the harsh reality.

"Why is it pissing you off though? You didn't care about anyone else keeping secrets; so why care when I keep secrets too?" All the anger had left me; I just wanted to know why he was treating me like this.

"Look at everyone on the team Steve. We've all got shady backgrounds. There's Clint and Natasha, the master assassins. There's Wanda and Pietro, they started off working with Ultron and wanting to destroy the avengers. Bruce turns green and destroys everything, with little control over what he's doing. Bucky used to be a brain washed Hydra assassin. Thor nearly started a war with the Frost Giants for the sake of pride. Vision was only created when Ultron wanted a new body; he was born from evil yet turned out to be on our side. Rhodey stole one of my suits so the air force could weaponise it and that really backfired. And Me. I'm the son of one of the best weapon manufacturers ever; I continued making those weapons after he died too. Who knows how many deaths that caused? But you, Steve, you're not like us, you're 'America's Golden Boy'! Mr Perfect! If there was anyone on the team I thought I could trust, that wouldn't lie and would continually fight to make the world a better place. I thought it would be you Steve. I thought you would be the perfect one in the Avengers, now we're just a bunch of misfits and liars trying to protect everyone." He looked me dead in the eye as he spoke every word. When he was done, he paused for a moment before turned around and going back to his research. I didn't know what to say to that. I did the only thing I could think to do; I turned around and left.

Tony's words were still spinning around my mind as I sat down next to Bucky with a sigh. Bucky didn't say anything; he just put his arm around me and rested his head on my shoulder. He didn't need to say anything for me to know he was there for me if I wanted to talk.

 **Tony's POV**

Damn it! Steve really got on my nerves. I was managing to hide it just fine before he came down here to check on me. Now he knew I was pissed at him. At least he didn't know the full reason why I was pissed at him. Even when I was shouting at him I'd had enough self-control to keep that one reason to myself. I'd made up most of what I'd said on the spot, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense to be mad at him for all those reasons as well. The more I thought the angrier I got.

If anyone was always going to be honest with everyone I would have thought it would have been Steve. Clearly I was wrong. That's not what hurt the most though. What if my dad knew what Steve had done? Dad was obsessed with Captain America; so proud that he'd made such a strong, righteous, American hero. He was always going on about how Steve was such a great man, that I should be more like him; he was always saying that Steve could do no wrong.

Part of me was glad he wasn't around to see Steve acting like this. Another part of me wanted to show him that even this 'perfect' man had flaws. That Steve was more like me instead of me being more like him.

 **Bucky's POV**

I hated seeing Stevie like this. He had a sort of rejected look on his face. I wanted to talk to him about it, to find out what had happened and make him feel better, but he was deep in thought. I knew that Stevie had just had an argument with Tony; we could hear them yelling but couldn't make out what they had been saying. It had just been a sort of muffled booming we could all hear. A couple people had walked through asking what the noise was and I'd told them about the two arguing. I didn't really want to tell them but if I didn't they probably would've gone down to check it out and that could've ended badly.

Stevie let out another sigh. I looked up at him and placed a kiss on his cheek. He looked down at me out of the corner of his eye and gave me a small smile.

"So…What happened?" I finally asked; I wanted to wait until he was ready to talk but I also wanted to know what had happened pretty badly.

"Tony is pretty pissed off at me for hiding Claire. He said if there was anyone he thought he could count to be honest all the time and not keep secrets it would be me, but clearly he was wrong." As he finished talking he looked down into his lap, as though he was ashamed of the words he'd just said.

"Tony just likes to know everything, that's all. He'll get over it." I didn't really know what to say to cheer him up. We sat there for a moment in silence before I spoke again.

"C'mon babe…" I kissed him again but this time a bit more forcefully. This seemed to break him out of his own mind. Stevie turned towards me and caught my lips in his. He was soft, gentle; the kiss was loving yet passionate at the same time. My hand went up to cup his face whilst his hands moved so one was on my hip and with the other he'd grabbed a fistful of my t-shirt and was pulling me closer to him. We were just about to lie down, with me on top, when we heard a fake cough from the other side of the room.

It was Natasha. She was stood in the doorway, one hand on her hip, a faint smile on her lips. We instantly jumped apart, both of us blushing.

"Sorry" I mumbled as she came and sat down on a sofa opposite us. Stevie's face was still bright red but mine was now reflecting Natasha's mischievous grin.

"Just be glad it was me who found you both, the others will be here in a minute. JARVIS called everyone back here; I think someone's found something useful." Stevie relaxed when Natasha changed the subject to something that wasn't him and Bucky. My smile had faded as she mentioned the search on Chovnik. That dude was creepy, I wanted nothing more than to never see him again but that wasn't going to happen. He'd attacked my Stevie; I would happily rip his brains out.

As I thought about the evil man; the other avengers filed into the room. First Sam, then Bruce, then Vision, Thor, Wanda, Rhodey, Clint and Pietro. Everyone sat down in silence; the tension in the room was obvious. Claire walked in, looking very anxious and awkward. My heart ached for her; I just wanted to give her a hug, to get to know her. After all she was my…

Tony walked in. I saw him look at Stevie, his face a strange mixture of angry, concern and fear. I stole a quick glance at Stevie and saw that he was looking back at Tony, but instead his face was full of sadness and worry. I wanted to punch Tony so hard for making my boy feel this way but I couldn't; it would probably get me kicked out of the avengers and then I'd see even less of Stevie.

"I've got a couple of idea of who could be ordering Chovnik around but nothing definitive. Anyone else managed to find anything?" Tony spoke, deliberately not looking in our direction. Natasha nodded and Tony motioned for her to speak up.

"He's been flying around the world a lot recently. He's been visiting Iceland at a lot recently. He's been going to a lot of other places as well of course, but each time he always returns to Iceland. There isn't an obvious connection between his destinations so far but I'm still working on it" Tony nodded when she finished talking. It was silent for a few seconds afterwards; you could practically hear everyone thinking about what she'd just said.

"Well, I had a few ideas about who he was connected to, but now I'm pretty sure who it is. Only one of them was anywhere near Iceland, but there's little to no information on this guy. Just a name and country. I guess all we can do is go to Iceland and find him." Tony said, thinking out loud. A few people looked about in confusion; Tony had never actually said who the person was and they wanted to see if it was just them who had missed it.

"Who are we going to find, buddy? You might know his name but we won't unless you tell us." Clint spoke up, confident as ever. All eyes turned to Tony as he realised he hadn't actually told them who it was yet.

"Phobos. His name is Phobos."

A pause.

"That doesn't bode well. His name literally means 'Fear'" Stevie said, seemingly forgetting his earlier argument with Tony. It was a moment before anyone spoke until Rhodey broke the silence.

"Well I guess we're going to Iceland to fight Fear itself."


End file.
